Report: Many in NBA believe Kevin Durant would’ve signed with Celtics if Warriors beat Cavaliers in 2016 Finals http://dlvr.it/N4d5v2

Cool story Kurt. I wouldn't think so badly of him if he had gone to the celtics. Of course this completely contradicts the narrative that KD didn't know where he was going until the day he made his decision. I would also think more highly of him if he had been upfront with everyone.

Cool story Kurt. I wouldn't think so badly of him if he had gone to the celtics. Of course this completely contradicts the narrative that KD didn't know where he was going until the day he made his decision. I would also think more highly of him if he had been upfront with everyone.

How can you not give it to Harden if he leads this Rockets team to a better record than OKC ever had with Durant and Westbrook?

Don't get me wrong, Harden is having an absolute monster year. His impact and stats are top notch and amazing.
But as long as the Thunder make the play offs and Westbrook is averaging a triple double, he is getting it. With the way KD left and the position he put the team in playing with a short deck (like having singlar getting minutes and semaj as a backup) he will win it hands down

Harden vs. Westbrook may be one of the closest MVP races we've had in some time if they both keep up their current paces. You have Harden leading Houston team that is currently 2nd in the league in wins vs. Westbrook who is literally averaging a triple double and keeping his team that was decimated by a major superstar leaving in the summer in the hunt for home court in the first round.

Houston has a much better constructed team around Harden than Westbrook has. People forgot how good Gordon was when healthy and he's their 6th man coming off the bench. Anderson for years has been the model stretch four and somehow he flies under the radar for them as well. To me the real story comes down to the numbers of how the teams look when the two players go off the court and the impact that Russ has for the Thunder is crazy on the load he is carrying. Hopefully with Payne coming back and Kanter coming on strong with the 2nd unit the time with Russ off the court isn't just a disaster as it has been to this point.

Don't get me wrong, Harden is having an absolute monster year. His impact and stats are top notch and amazing.
But as long as the Thunder make the play offs and Westbrook is averaging a triple double, he is getting it. With the way KD left and the position he put the team in playing with a short deck (like having singlar getting minutes and semaj as a backup) he will win it hands down

I think the consensus now is Harden is leading. It's not like Harden is playing with a 2nd or 3rd superstar. If stats are close, then I think wins becomes the bigger factor. Remember that oddsmakers gave the Thunder a higher win total to start the season. The Thunder are on pace to hit their win total. Houston is playing at a pace that's 15 games better tan the win total. It's a close race. Westbrook' numbers are unbelievable, but Harden's numbers are only a fraction below and he's impacted winning more than Westbrook. This can change of course, but I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the all the Thunder have to do is make the playoffs for him to get the award. Right now it looks like the eight seed might make the playoffs well under .500. I think Westbrook will have to exceed the Thunder's expected win total. But this is fun to watch.

I think the consensus now is Harden is leading. It's not like Harden is playing with a 2nd or 3rd superstar. If stats are close, then I think wins becomes the bigger factor. Remember that oddsmakers gave the Thunder a higher win total to start the season. The Thunder are on pace to hit their win total. Houston is playing at a pace that's 15 games better tan the win total. It's a close race. Westbrook' numbers are unbelievable, but Harden's numbers are only a fraction below and he's impacted winning more than Westbrook. This can change of course, but I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the all the Thunder have to do is make the playoffs for him to get the award. Right now it looks like the eight seed might make the playoffs well under .500. I think Westbrook will have to exceed the Thunder's expected win total. But this is fun to watch.

The race is extremely close but in my opinion you are greatly undervaluing the talent on that Houston team and like I stated above how well constructed they are. I'm not going to bash Presti too much on construction of the Thunder this season because he's dealing with the aftermath of the events of July 4th which makes where the Thunder currently are all the more impressive. Right now the MVP race is a coin toss imo.

Thunder play the Grizz tonight at home, in my opinion this is a big one for the Thunder especially after being embarrassed by Memphis. I don't think Memphis is a good match-up for the Thunder but they need to find a way to pull this one out tonight.

I think the consensus now is Harden is leading. It's not like Harden is playing with a 2nd or 3rd superstar. If stats are close, then I think wins becomes the bigger factor. Remember that oddsmakers gave the Thunder a higher win total to start the season. The Thunder are on pace to hit their win total. Houston is playing at a pace that's 15 games better tan the win total. It's a close race. Westbrook' numbers are unbelievable, but Harden's numbers are only a fraction below and he's impacted winning more than Westbrook. This can change of course, but I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the all the Thunder have to do is make the playoffs for him to get the award. Right now it looks like the eight seed might make the playoffs well under .500. I think Westbrook will have to exceed the Thunder's expected win total. But this is fun to watch.

The numbers aren't very close, though. Westbrook averages 3 more ppg, 2 more rpg. The 1 more assist per game harden averages doesn't mean much when his competition is averaging a triple double and leads the NBA in scoring. Right now, it is not that close.

I think the consensus now is Harden is leading. It's not like Harden is playing with a 2nd or 3rd superstar. If stats are close, then I think wins becomes the bigger factor. Remember that oddsmakers gave the Thunder a higher win total to start the season. The Thunder are on pace to hit their win total. Houston is playing at a pace that's 15 games better tan the win total. It's a close race. Westbrook' numbers are unbelievable, but Harden's numbers are only a fraction below and he's impacted winning more than Westbrook. This can change of course, but I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the all the Thunder have to do is make the playoffs for him to get the award. Right now it looks like the eight seed might make the playoffs well under .500. I think Westbrook will have to exceed the Thunder's expected win total. But this is fun to watch.

Definitely fun to watch.
Take westbrook off of the Thunder. Your lineup would be

The numbers aren't very close, though. Westbrook averages 3 more ppg, 2 more rpg. The 1 more assist per game harden averages doesn't mean much when his competition is averaging a triple double and leads the NBA in scoring. Right now, it is not that close.

The Rockets lineup was expected to win 45 games this year. They have 31 by the all star break which is largely due to Harden putting up whatever numbers they need to win games. Both Harden and Westbrook could score 40 a fame if stats won games. On guy wins a lot the other doesn't. If you want to make rockets role players superstars now, then that's your prerogative, but people that set expectations or odds for the year looked at the rockets talent and considered them a fringe playoff team that might win half their games. Expectations were higher for the Thunder this year even after they lost Durant. That's how highly the media considered Westbrook. Nothing's more important than wins. Best player on best team usually wins and rightly so.

The numbers aren't very close, though. Westbrook averages 3 more ppg, 2 more rpg. The 1 more assist per game harden averages doesn't mean much when his competition is averaging a triple double and leads the NBA in scoring. Right now, it is not that close.

Also, Harden averages 2 more minutes per game so has extra time to pad his stats. Give Russ 2 more minutes and his numbers go up even more.

The race is extremely close but in my opinion you are greatly undervaluing the talent on that Houston team and like I stated above how well constructed they are. I'm not going to bash Presti too much on construction of the Thunder this season because he's dealing with the aftermath of the events of July 4th which makes where the Thunder currently are all the more impressive. Right now the MVP race is a coin toss imo.

Thunder play the Grizz tonight at home, in my opinion this is a big one for the Thunder especially after being embarrassed by Memphis. I don't think Memphis is a good match-up for the Thunder but they need to find a way to pull this one out tonight.

Your evaluation of talent is kind of after the fact. Did you look at Houstons talent prior to the season and peg them as a team that should win 55-62 games this year? Of course you didn't. Nobody did. The Thunder were supposed to be better than the rockets. But they aren't even close, and Harden's either putting up the scoring, assists, or rebounds needed on a nightly basis to win games. He's had a huge week because the rockets have played rather poor, but he's pulling them to wins. Why are Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, and the rockets small post players having the best seasons they've ever had? It's because Harden controls the game and makes them better. Wins matter. This Houston team shouldn't be on this pace. Harden has made it happen.

The Rockets lineup was expected to win 45 games this year. They have 31 by the all star break which is largely due to Harden putting up whatever numbers they need to win games. Both Harden and Westbrook could score 40 a fame if stats won games. On guy wins a lot the other doesn't. If you want to make rockets role players superstars now, then that's your prerogative, but people that set expectations or odds for the year looked at the rockets talent and considered them a fringe playoff team that might win half their games. Expectations were higher for the Thunder this year even after they lost Durant. That's how highly the media considered Westbrook. Nothing's more important than wins. Best player on best team usually wins and rightly so.

not saying you are not correct, but do you have links for all of your preseason statements

I'll correct my statement. The Rockets were expected to win .5 games better than the Thunder this year. But my point is still the same. The Rockets are vastly exceeds my wn totals. The Thunder are on pace for win totals.

OKC would be golden state and then some if their gm would have had the foresight to keep Harden, Westbrook, and Durant. Guess he loved the hell out of Ibaka or he just didn't understand how to put together a big 3. Not much future for OKC in the coming years. They wasted the excellent drafting they did.

Your evaluation of talent is kind of after the fact. Did you look at Houstons talent prior to the season and peg them as a team that should win 55-62 games this year? Of course you didn't. Nobody did. The Thunder were supposed to be better than the rockets. But they aren't even close, and Harden's either putting up the scoring, assists, or rebounds needed on a nightly basis to win games. He's had a huge week because the rockets have played rather poor, but he's pulling them to wins. Why are Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, and the rockets small post players having the best seasons they've ever had? It's because Harden controls the game and makes them better. Wins matter. This Houston team shouldn't be on this pace. Harden has made it happen.

No. Spacing, shooting, and D'Antoni offense. It's all a perfect fit for the personnel & coaching. The thunder, by and large can't shoot - Houston can. That is your difference.

OKC would be golden state and then some if their gm would have had the foresight to keep Harden, Westbrook, and Durant. Guess he loved the hell out of Ibaka or he just didn't understand how to put together a big 3. Not much future for OKC in the coming years. They wasted the excellent drafting they did.

OKC would be golden state and then some if their gm would have had the foresight to keep Harden, Westbrook, and Durant. Guess he loved the hell out of Ibaka or he just didn't understand how to put together a big 3. Not much future for OKC in the coming years. They wasted the excellent drafting they did.

BS response. Go back and read up. OKC was the first team dealing with the then new CBA and lux tax rules. A decision had to be made then without future foresight. Signing Harden to a max or close to max would have put us in tax hell. OKC was willing to go over tax but it was the very punitive repeater tax that would have killed us. Within 3 years we would be paying $4 for every $1 over. And it was also any 3 years over in a 4 year window too so it would have continued to kill us unless we unloaded major salary. $10,00,000 would cost $50,000,000! I loved Harden too. At that time Ibaka was a beast and improving. So was Russ and we did not need 2 of Russ and 0 of Ibaka.

OKC would be golden state and then some if their gm would have had the foresight to keep Harden, Westbrook, and Durant. Guess he loved the hell out of Ibaka or he just didn't understand how to put together a big 3. Not much future for OKC in the coming years. They wasted the excellent drafting they did.

[QUOTE=Tx Sooner;3227630]Your evaluation of talent is kind of after the fact. Did you look at Houstons talent prior to the season and peg them as a team that should win 55

Of course I didn't see them winning 55-62 games no one did and Harden certainly deserves a lion's share of that credit. What Houston is doing is amazing but as I said they are a much better "constructed" team and the preseason polls mostly had the Rockets, Thunder, and Blazers all in a mix of around 45 wins. I also give D'Antoni a ton of credit for what he has done with that team.

As I said the MVP race is a toss up but it's not like Harden is playing with a bunch of bums down in Houston either.

Your evaluation of talent is kind of after the fact. Did you look at Houstons talent prior to the season and peg them as a team that should win 55

Of course I didn't see them winning 55-62 games no one did and Harden certainly deserves a lion's share of that credit. What Houston is doing is amazing but as I said they are a much better "constructed" team and the preseason polls mostly had the Rockets, Thunder, and Blazers all in a mix of around 45 wins. I also give D'Antoni a ton of credit for what he has done with that team.

As I said the MVP race is a toss up but it's not like Harden is playing with a bunch of bums down in Houston either.

But isn't the "better constructed team" deal a product of current win/loss record? If OKC had the better record I believe they would be considered better constructed. I can't think of anyone that praised how the rockets were constructed prior to the season. But after 31-9, now people say Harden has an advantage because of the Rockets talent. The way I see it was the Thunder and Rockets were considered equals led by singular superstars in the preseason. But Harden is leading his te to a record that might surpass the best record OKC ever had when they had Durant and Westbrook. Or on the Tockets side, Harden may lead them to more wins than they ever had with Olajuwon. That's MVP stuff there.

Watch out tonight. Last Grizz game Russ got tossed plus Grizz took a lot of late 3's (and was laughing) in a blowout game. We seem to have a good rivalry with the Grizz over the years. Hope Russ plays hard but smart.

Optional("Westbrook backs Roberson\'s comments that he felt the Grizzlies \'disrespected\' them by launching 3s late in the blow… twitter.com/i/web/status/819241164347994112") -- Optional("@FredKatz")
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